Airship gondola



my 29, 1924. f www K. STAHL AVIRSHIP GONDOLA Filed Oct. 26. 1921 2 mam-@66% 1 my 29 1924, www) K. STAHL 1 AIRSHIP GONDOLA Filed Oct. 26. 1921 wei-@09% 2 Patented July 29, 1924. v

unimo STATES PATENT OFFICE.

KARL STAM, OF FRIEDICHSHAFEN, GERMANY. ASSIGNCR T0 THE HRM: LUFT- SCH'IIEFIBAU ZEPPELIN GESELLSCHAFE MIT BESCHRANKTER HAFTUNG, OF FRIED- RICHSHAFEN, GERMANY.

AIRSHIP GONDOLA.

Application flied ctober 26, 1921.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, KARL STAHL, a German citizen, residing at Friedrichshafen-onthe-Bodensee, Germany, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Airship Gondolas, of which the following is a specification.

My invention refers to airships and more especially to the motor gondola-'s connected with airships. I I

`Modern airship motors owing to their great reliability do not absolutely require permanent attending and observing. As a rule, the working of the motors need only.

be` supervised from a central stand by aid of remote control revolutionk counters, thermometers, etc., ashas already been done in the case of-fiying machines provided with a. plurality of motors. However, inV airships there should be a possibility of making repairs and it is further desirable that the attendant be stationed naar the motor in order to be able to interferey at once in the vcase of irregular working of the motor.

This possibilitwT is afforded according to the present invention by the motor gondola being connected with the body of the airship by a preferably airtight shaft.

In the drawings aflixed to the specification and forming part thereof, part of an airship with a motor gondola connected therewith according to the present invention, is -illustrated diagrammatically by way of example. In the drawings- Fig. l-is a sectional view of part of the .airship hull with the motor gondola and the gangway or shaft connecting them, while Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of the gangway on the line 2 2 in Fig. 1, and

Fig. 3 is a cross-section on the line 3-3 in Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a view similar to the one shown in Fig. 2 and disclosing means for pre' Referring to the drawings a is the gon-l Serial No. 510,582.

dola, b the contiguous part of the airship body and e is a suspension cable. c is the shaft connecting the gondola with the airs hip body. Preferably thisshaft is streamlined in order to minimize air resistance. In order to safeguard against fire the shaft or gangway is subdivided by gas-tight. bulk heads f, provided with doors g, into several compartments. In order to prevent gas from entering the? doors are kept in closing position by springs L in such a manner as to allow of being opened. only when the next succeeding door is closed. d is the floor and l are pipes for the supply of petrol,l

It may further be used for supplying the gondola with fresh air as well as with hot air fo; heating purposes. The shaft may be so esigned, as to partly support the gondola. Instead of making the shaft itself streamlined, it may have any desired sectolllland may be covered with a streamlined s ie By generating an increased pressure intermediate the single bulkheads, `further security against the inflow of gasv can be obtained. In order to prevent more than one door from being opened at a time, the means disclosed in Figs. 4-8 may be employed. As shown in the drawings, rod p is linked to one door at o, the forked head q of this rod being in its turn linked to a lock bar r guided in bearings t along the end ofthe rod does not project beyond theV Y wall f, as shown in full lines. In this position, either one or the other ,door can be opened, but never both of them simulta` neously. On" the left hand door being opened, as shown in dotted lines, rod 1- is shifted across the wall f and passes through an aperturein the free end of lever fv, (Figs 4 and 6), whereby the right hand door is locked, camw fixed on its hinge pin being applied against the horizontal arm of the lever. If the left hand door is closed, the right hand door can be opened, the cam .v being at the same time moved in-to the position shown in Fig. 7, whereby the horizontal arm of lever v being operatively connected by means of a pin 'v' with a slotted ez'itension y of locking bol-t y, will be caused to vdisplace this bolt in upward direction, whereby the bolt will place itself in front of the; free end of'rod fr, which'isthus prevented from being shifted horizontally and thereby locks the left'hand door. Lever v is acted upon by a spring z which tends to pull it mto normal positions,.its free end resting against an. abutment z.

The shaft may further serve for storing therein all kinds of appliances required in the general service of an airship such as fuel and lubricant pipes and containers, intuments, ballast, scoops, radiators and the I wish it to be understood that I do not desire tolbe limited to the exact details of constructlon shown and described for' obvious modifications will occur to a person skilled in the art.

I claims 1. In an airship in 'combination, an airsbip body, a gondola projecting and suspended from said body, a passageway or shaft' connecting said gondola with said body and bulkheads subdividing said shaft into several compartments.

2. In an airship in combination, an airshipkbody, a gondola projecting and suspended from said body,ra assageway or shaft connecting' Vsaid ondla with said body, bulkheads subdivi ng said shaft into several compartments and a door lin each bulkh^ad adapted to be opened only when the adjoining door is closed. j

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

- KARL STAHL. 

